College Students Don't Respect Peers Who 'Hook Up' Too Much

Male athletes, fraternity members likelier to judge women more harshly.

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FRIDAY, Aug. 17, 2012 (HealthDay
News) —College
students who "hook up" too much lose the respect of other
students, a new study indicates.

Although there is less of a double standard for women, nearly half of
students have negative attitudes toward other students who appear to engage in
a lot of casual sexual activity,
researchers found.

"Men and women are increasingly judging each other on the same
level playing field," study co-author Rachel Allison, a doctoral candidate
in the department of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said
in a news release. "But gender equality and sexual liberation are not
synonymous. While we've come a long way in terms of gender equality, it seems
that a large portion of both college men and women lose respect for individuals
who they believe participate in too frequent casual sexual
activity."

The researchers conducted an online survey of more than 19,000
students from 22 colleges. The students were asked if they lost respect for
women who hook up or have sex with many people. Based on their response, the
participants were divided into four groups: egalitarian conservative,
egalitarian libertarian, traditional double standard and reverse double standard.

The study revealed that roughly 48 percent of the college students in
the survey were egalitarian conservatives. These students judged all other
students in the same way and would lose respect for both men and women that
engaged in frequent casual sexual activity.

The researchers noted that women were more likely than men to have
this view. About 54 percent of the women surveyed fell into this category,
compared to about 35 percent of the men.

Meanwhile, about 27 percent of the students were considered
egalitarian libertarians. This group of students said they would not lose
respect for men or women regardless of their sexual activity.

The researchers also found nearly 12 percent of the students held a
traditional double standard. These students would lose respect for women who
hooked up often, but not men who engaged in the same behavior. The researchers
pointed out that only 6 percent of women held this view, compared to nearly 25
percent of men.

Although the majority of men didn't hold a traditional double
standard, 38 percent of male athletes and 37 percent of men in fraternities
held a traditional double standard. The researchers pointed out that these
people's views may influence campus culture.

"Because Greek brothers and athletes tend to be at the top of the
social stratification ladder — the big guys on campus — we
see this adversarial double standard infused in people's perceptions of college
and hook-up culture," study co-author Barbara Risman, a sociology
professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said in the news release.
"These men, who are in fact the minority, end up holding a great deal of
social power on campus."

Roughly 13 percent of the students had a reverse double standard and
said they would lose respect for men who hooked up too much, but not
women.

The researchers pointed out that women in sororities who lived in
Greek housing were 42 percent more likely to hold a reverse double standard
than an egalitarian libertarian view of hooking up.

"Women who hold to this reverse double standard are invoking a
kind of gender justice," Risman explained. "They are critical of men
who treat women badly and they do not accept a 'boys will be boys' view of male
sexuality."

The researchers said students' religious affiliation, sexual identity
and where they went to school also influenced their attitudes on hooking up and
perceptions of gender equality.

Buddhist, Jewish and non-affiliated students, the study found, were
less likely to lose respect for people who hook up often than Catholic
students. Women who are evangelical or fundamentalist Christians, however, were
nearly 76 percent more likely than Catholic women to negatively judge people
who engage in casual hook-ups.

Sexual orientation also played a role in the students' attitudes on
casual sexual activity. Students who were not heterosexual were usually
egalitarian libertarians, and were less likely than heterosexuals to lose
respect for those engaging in casual
hook ups.

Students attending West Coast colleges more often held liberal views
on sexual activity. Midwest colleges fell on the opposite end of the spectrum.
These students had the most conservative attitudes about hooking up. Meanwhile,
students on the East Coast had more moderate views.

"You have to remember how far the sexual revolution has
come," Risman noted. "Before, sociologists would study stigma
directed toward sexually active unmarried women.
Now we are looking at whether stigma still exists toward men and women who too
often engage in purely recreational sexual activity outside the confines of a
dating relationship. That's a sea change in attitudes toward sex."

The study was expected to be presented Monday at the American
Sociological Association annual meeting in Denver. Research presented at
meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed
medical journal.

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